Oh My Ghost (2015) Korean Drama First
Impressions

a New tvN Korean Drama Oh My Ghost / 오 나의 귀신님 First Impressions

I am asking
is because I want to talk about “Oh My Ghost” (2015), a new Korean drama. For
those who are new, I talk about Korean dramas on akaitalking.comand Korean movies on kmovietalk.com.

Introduction

Within the
modern TV drama world, the urban fantasygenre
has crafted a decent nichefor
itself. Examples in American TV includes shows such as “Supernatural”, “True
Blood”, “Sleepy Hollow”, “Grimm”, and even “Buffy The Vampire Slayer”. Since I
have just listed out some vampire showsalso,
I do think I have to mention that urban horrorshould be
differentiated from urban fantasyeven though there is
some overlap.

Well considering
the popularity of Vampires now, there is a lot of overlap

Among the
many differences, a major one is that fact that “horror” tends to be far more
acceptable to audiences than “fantasy.”Even
Vampires are more acceptable than fantasy!

Why?

Don’t ask me
since it will take a long time.

For the
industry, the urban fantasygenre
is attractive because, by setting the show in the present or near present, you
could do supernatural / fantasy stories without all the world building required
by a show set in the more traditional fantasy genre setting. It also helps that the production cost of an
urban fantasy show is lower since you can buy stuff off the rack.

At the same
time, there is a hurdle for the audience since there is an inherent sense of
goofiness to actually seeing the fantastic side by side with the modern such as
technology. Audiences are more forgiving of seeing a dragon in the middle ages
than in downtown Seoul.

That is why,
even in America, the urban fantasy genre is more of a niche genre.

“M” (1994)

Korean Urban Fantasy

For a long
time, Korean audiences were
not really ready to accept urban fantasyin
their TV shows. Prior to the 2000s, fantasy was mostly set in the past and even
those leaned more towards horror. The show “M” (1994) starring Shim
Eun-hawas more or less the first mainstream
Korean drama that could be seen to have urban fantasy elements. However, it was
still more of a horror show.

Boo!

Over the
years, more and more period Korean dramas attempted to include more fantasy
elements. Because of this, some may say that most Korean historical dramas now
are fantasy shows. There was also some progress made on the urban fantasy end
of Korean dramas although somewhat slower.

“Thousand Years of Love /천년지애“ (2003)

In many case, Korean dramas tended
to walk the line by creating hybrid urban fantasy shows. This entailed making
shows that is part period fantasy such as “Thousand Years of Love /천년지애“ (2003). Another more current trend is to make “stop-gap”
urban fantasy shows which introduce supernatural elements as a gimmick into a
standard Korea drama. Examples of the latter include “I Hear Your Voice”
(2013), “Who Are You” (2013), and even “The Master's Sun” (2013).

You can see
that, as time goes by and more and more shows introduce supernatural elements,
the Korean audience is becoming more accepting of the urban fantasy genre. To
be honest, “The Master's Sun” (2013) did lean pretty strong on the urban
fantasy. Even 2013’s big Korean drama hit “My Love From Another Star” (2013)
was more of a urban fantasy show than a sci-fi show if you think about it.

Wow!

2013 was a
great year for the urban fantasy genre in Korea.

Personally,
I think “49 Days” (2011)was
the first hardcore urban fantasy Korean drama. In the scope of TV dramas as a
whole, “49 Days” (2011) was not unique as it creatively borrowed from American
and Japanese dramas a lot. However, by combining those borrowed elements with
Korean melodrama successfully, I think it laid the framework of what future
urban fantasy shows would look like in Korea at least those more drama focused.

I am
excluding vampire shows from this as they have a life of their own.

As if to
confirm this thought, the new Korean drama, “Oh My Ghost” (2015), is very
reminiscing of “49 Days” (2011) in more ways than one.

The Plot

Up to the
point of this article, two episodes of this show have aired and the plot goes
thusly. You have a female “virgin” ghostwho
refused to go into the light because she died as a “virgin”.

A standard
trope albeit a gender flipped one in case of this show.

Because of
this unfinished business, she goes around possessing hot females to seduce men
but fails constantly to seal the deal. While she has no problem possessing the
females, all the men just collapse before they get down to business. Her
presence just saps the life out of the men.

First “49
Days” (2011) similarity check!

This ghost
is constantly pursued by a “mystic” who
is tasked to manage the lost souls on earth. The mystic is interested in her
because of the whole “leaving a ton of collapsed men in her wake” thing. Also, the
ghost is rather unique because she has lost her memory which the show tells us is
not common.

Second “49
Days” (2011) similarity check!

Third “49
Days” (2011) similarity check!

One
day, the ghost bumps into a “living girl” who seems deader inside than the
ghost is. The girl is haunted by the fact that she is somewhat able to see
ghosts or something in that area.

“The ghost” possesses “the girl” to get out
of a hairy situation and gets stuck inside the girl.

Fourth “49
Days” (2011) similarity check!

Fifth “49
Days” (2011) similarity check!

So, the
ghost ends up masquerading as the girl who works in a restaurant under a
handsome and famous chef.

Of course!

Now we know
that this is a Korean drama!

Impressions

Do I think
that Oh My Ghost’s (2015) similarity
with “49 Days” (2011) is a bad thing?

My answer
would be no! Being similar to the standard-ish framework of a genre is not
necessarily a bad thing. Also, it is not like “Oh My Ghost” (2015) has nothing
new to offer. For one, “Oh My Ghost” (2015) is more of a comedy than “49
Days” (2011) which was more of a straight drama with a heavy Japanese drama
vibe to it. Both the ghost and the mystic are comedic characters in this show. Kim Seul-Gi /김슬기who
plays that ghost is pretty good with being wacky without it coming off as being
irritating. This is her first major leading role in a Korean drama.

Kim Seul-Gi /김슬기

This casting
is interesting since this type of actress is made more for a supporting role.

I am not
sure about “the girl” played by Park Bo-Young /박보영since
her character came off as flat. Because of the nature of her character, I
cannot totally blame the actress since character of the girl is not really
meant to come to life at this point in the story. However, Lee
Yo-Wonwho played a similar role in “49
Days” (2011) was at least interesting to watch as a figurative zombie which is
not the case in “Oh My Ghost” (2015).

In addition, even when Park
Bo-Young had more
to do as “The girl” possessed by “The ghost”, it feels more like she is doing a
bad imitation of Kim Seul-Gi. This many change in future
episodes, but, at the moment, I am not confident with her abilities.

As a side
note, Park Bo-Young /박보영starred in a recent Korean movie
called “The Silenced “(2015). “Oh My Ghost” (2015) is also her first major
leading role in a Korean drama. I did not make the connection before googling
her name. Oddly this, not recognizing actors in Korean dramas whom I saw in
Korean movies, is happening a lot to me.

I wonder
why…

The biggest
thing that impressed me about “Oh My Ghost” (2015) is that I believed the world
being created by the show which does not happens much when Korean dramas do
fantasy. I cannot put my finger on exactly why I react this way as the world
building in the show is not objectively spectacular although the show does make
an effort which is more than most Korean dramas do. I think the effort made by
the show and the genre elements made already familiar by shows that came before
like “49 Days” (2011) pushed the show over the top for me.

As a side
note, Shin Eun-Kyungalso
stars in this show as the male lead character’s mother.

How the mighty have fallen...

“Oh My
Ghost” (2015) is odd in that the actors
playing mother and son only has a seven year difference in real life. The drama
tries to force this through by reducing the age of the male lead character by
about 5 years and aging Shin Eun-Kyung’s character by 9 years in comparison to the
actors playing them. However, it is still weird because Shin
Eun-Kyunglooks like she is in her late
30s. She could play “Her son’s” older lover in this show.

Insert
incest jokes here!

Conclusion

I would
have to say that “Oh My Ghost” (2015) is an interesting attempt at doing an
urban fantasy Korean drama. The worst thing about the show is the title which
is basically copying the Japanese manga title, “Oh My Goddess” which leads to
weird title translations such as “Oh My Ghostness.” I do not think “Ghostness”
is actually a word.

Is Ghostness
a word?

Where is my
dictionary…

“Oh My
Ghost” (2015), while feeling like a “49 Days” (2011) clone sometimes, is still
different enough to prevent this from feeling like a sin.

The whole
incest vibe is a separate thing,

Lol

I am not
sure that the show will unfold without falling down on its face but I am
willing to give it a try. I am going to place this show at the top of shows that
“are generally good with no serious issues but not great”. Thus, I give it a B+
grade.

Score:
B+ or 7.5 /10

This was Prof. AKIA and thanks for reading my
review.

So,
thanks for visiting during office hours. My name again is Prof. AKIA. Do not
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